Chapter Forty-One

“H-h-her! What is sh-she doing here?” Bob is visibly agitated by seeing Claire.
“Bob, it’s O.K., you will be O.K.,” Billy slowly steps over to Bob.
“She h-h-hurts me,” Bob’s voice is getting as shaky as the hand that is holding the broken glass.
Dr. Ramsey notices a flower vase has been shattered on the floor. The vase’s flowers now scattered about the floor in a puddle of water.
“Hand me the glass, Bob,” Billy says trying to plead with the patient.
“I ca-can’t. She will h-h-hurt me,” Bob insists.
Claire is standing up behind the nurse’s station believing that Bob is the one that is going to hurt someone. “Get away from me. You need help.”
“Claire,” Dr. Ramsey says sternly. “Knock it off.”
“Me? Who knows what he will do?” Nurse Hudson responds.
“What do you expect after what you did to him?” Billy now focuses on Bob once again. “Bob, please, just stay calm.”
“Dr. R-Ramsey?”
“Yes, Bob, what is it?” Billy asks.
“Why is sh-sh-she here after what she did to me?” Bob asks. The man reaches up behind his still bald head and begins rubbing it. “Sh-she shouldn’t be h-here.”
“I know, Bob, we are working on that,” Dr. Ramsey says.

Ryan has now left the Stephanie and her mother alone again in Violet’s room.
“Mom, you need to come out from under the bed,” Stephanie presses.
Violet slides forward slightly enough to stick her head out from under the metal frame. “He’s gone right?”
“Ryan, yes.”
“No, not the guard,” Violet looks around the room, “Your father.”
“Yes, mom,” Stephanie decides to play along, “He’s gone.”
Violet slides the rest of the way out from under the bed but is still cautiously looking around the room as she stands up alongside the bed. Once she sees no one else is around besides her daughter she sits down onto the bed.
“I don’t know what he wants from me,” Violet seems to ponder out loud while looking down toward the floor as if in shame. “I wish he’d just leave me alone.”
“He’s not going to get to you mom,” Stephanie tries to go along and reassure her mother. “Trust me.”
Just then the phone next to the bed rings startling the two.
“It’s probably just Ryan letting you know everything is fine,” Stephanie says as she nods toward the phone as if to signal for her mom to pick it up.
Her mother does.
When the older woman holds the receiver up to her ear she quickly drops it and screams.

Ryan has approached the commotion going on at the first floor nurse’s station and see Bob still holding a piece of jagged glass. “What’s going on here?”
Billy motions with his hand for the guard to stay where he is, “It’s O.K. Ryan, Bob here was just a little startled when he saw Claire standing here. Understandable.”
“What do you need, Dr. Ramsey,” the guard asks.
“It’s all fine right now, Ryan,” Billy says calmly. “Bob isn’t going to do anything, are you Bob?”
The front doors to the institute open and Dr. Winters is walking in with Officer Kirkland. The officer notices Bob as they approach the crowd and he instantly grabs the gun out of his holster. “Hey, step back now.” The officer says loudly almost shouting.
The loud voice scares Bob and he starts shaking and stepping back-and-forth in front of the desk.
“I-I-I don’t wanna g-g-get hurt again,” Bob says agitated. “J-Just leave me al-alone.” The patient raises the piece of glass higher in front of him to keep everyone away.
Officer Kirkland raises his gun and points it toward Bob, but before anything else happens they are all caught by surprise when they hear Violet’s screams from the other room.